From the Charred Remains

Rich historical detail compensates for the routine whodunit plot of Calkins’s sequel to 2013’s A Murder at Rosamund’s Gate. In the immediate aftermath of the Great Fire that devastated London in 1666, two boys playing amid the rubble find a wooden barrel containing a man’s corpse. Inside a leather pouch discovered next to the body are some coins and an unsigned love letter. Lucy Campion, a former lady’s maid who questions the boys, suspects that the missive may contain a code, and while she’s decided to start a new chapter in her professional life by becoming a printer’s apprentice, she finds herself again playing detective. With England at war with France and rampant allegations that the French were behind the conflagration, questions about its origin provide a nice counterpoint to the murder mystery. Calkins’s assured style will assuage those who may find the resolution unsatisfying. Agent: David Hale Smith, Inkwell Management. (Apr.)